Sweet About Me star Gabriella Cilmi gets back to her roots with new music

She was compared to Amy Winehouse on her debut record but when Melbourne singer Gabriella Cilmi underwent a drastic pop revamp, everything went wrong. Now she’s got her mojo back.

Gabriella Cilmi is back with a new EP. Picture: Supplied/Jess Brohier

There were times in the past five years when Gabriella Cilmi wondered if she should become a kindergarten teacher.

“Intense” babysitting sessions with her friends’ children and the chorus of support from family convinced the Australian singer and songwriter to keep going with her music career.

“I started so young and I didn’t really know how to do many other things,” she said.

The musician, who has been based in the UK for a decade, shot to the top of the charts here and through Europe with her breakthrough bluesy soul hit Sweet About Me, at the tender age of 16, in 2008.

She cleaned up at the ARIA Awards that year, albeit stumbling with her numerous acceptance speeches for six awards, and her debut album Lessons To Be Learned reached the top 10 at home and in England.

Cilmi won all of the ARIAs in 2008. Picture: Supplied

And then Cilmi and her team made the classic mistake which has destroyed the pop careers of countless debut success stories through the decades. The sexy pop reinvention.

Cilmi shrugged off her soul self to become a disco pop diva on her second album Ten, spearheaded by the single On A Mission.

It wasn’t so much a failure as a misfire.

As Cilmi returns to the airwaves in the UK this month with the release of her proudly independent EP called The Water, she said she feels “a bit sorry” for her second album self.

“She was in a place where she didn’t really belong,” she said.

“How on earth did I manage to sing and do all that choreography, especially someone like me with two left feet — when I was four, I got kicked out of ballet class.

“That period was the lowest of lows I have ever felt, I was completely lost. At a young age you are really impressionable and people might say good thing about you but it is the bad things that tend to stick and go around and around in your head.”

Cilmi’s pop reinvention for her second album proved to be a misstep. Picture: Supplied

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After that record, she split with her label and team.

It was a different era for women in pop — before Taylor Swift and Lorde and Dua Lipa and Charli XCX would redefine both the genre and the rules.

“I look back at that time and cringe a little bit to be honest but I also know there are people who love my songs like On A Mission and that makes me feel grateful; that it wasn’t all for nothing,” she says.

The young artist embraced therapy to sort out her post major label anxiety and build her mental strength to relaunch her career.

The first independent release, her third album The Sting in 2013, began her songwriting partnership with her younger brother Joseph, which has consolidated on The Water EP.

“After the second album experience, I wanted to create an environment where I didn’t have to answer to too many people so Joseph was someone I could trust and be honest with and we could yell and scream at each other and two minutes later, be over that,” she said.

The songs on The Water, including the lead single Ruins, were written quickly and recorded on their phones until Cilmi reconnected with British producer Eliot James.

He loved what he heard in her new songs and encouraged her return to her more organic musical roots.

Cilmi and her brother took their time; thanks to Sweet About Me’s success and its use in several commercials and film and television projects, there have been enough royalties coming in to keep a roof over her head.

Cilmi hopes to reestablish her career in Australia with a new team. Picture: Supplied/Jess Brohier

James then set up Kin Records to help her release her new music as her fanbase cheered on her efforts online.

“Getting messages and emails from fans, particularly after The Sting which wasn’t a commercial success, was a big, instrumental part in why I continue to make music. It’s because there are people who want to hear it,” she said.

Cilmi hopes to find like-minded people to work with again in Australia to re-establish her career here later this year.

“It’s been a long time so I’m putting a few feelers out management wise. It’s really important for me to get things going back home.”

The Water EP is out now via streaming services.